One type of surgical device is a linear clamping, cutting and stapling device. Such a device may be employed in a surgical procedure to resect a cancerous or anomalous tissue from a gastrointestinal tract. One conventional linear clamping, cutting and stapling instrument is shown in FIG. 1. The device includes a pistol grip-styled structure having an elongated shaft and distal portion. The distal portion includes a pair of scissors-styled gripping elements, which clamp the open ends of the colon closed. In this device, one of the two scissors-styled gripping elements, such as the anvil portion, moves or pivots relative to the overall structure, whereas the other gripping element remains fixed relative to the overall structure. The actuation of this scissoring device (the pivoting of the anvil portion) is controlled by a grip trigger maintained in the handle.
In addition to the scissoring device, the distal portion also includes a stapling mechanism. The fixed gripping element of the scissoring mechanism includes a staple cartridge receiving region and a mechanism for driving the staples up through the clamped end of the tissue against the anvil portion, thereby sealing the previously opened end. The scissoring elements may be integrally formed with the shaft or may be detachable such that various scissoring and stapling elements may be interchangeable.
One problem with the foregoing surgical devices, and in particular with the foregoing linear clamping, cutting and stapling devices such as that illustrated in FIG. 1, is that the opposing jaws of the clamping mechanism do not provide adequate clamping at the distal ends of the scissors-styled gripping elements to insure that a section of tissue clamped between the gripping elements is prevented from being pushed out from between the distal ends of the gripping elements.